I’ve been blogging a lot lately, but mostly about events and outside things that are going on. So I thought I’d take some time to just write about normal life. And normal life for our family seems like it’s finally here to stick around, just in time for the last few weeks of our summer. And after a very busy summer, I’m totally ready for it.
I thought I’d take time to share about a few games that we are playing this summer. The first one was invented by our ten year old son. First a little background. Like all ten year old boys, if we let him, Christian would love to be playing video games non-stop. I think it’s something that lies in modern-day boys DNA. However, we’ve definitely learned that it’s much better for our son (and his DNA) to not play video games and instead to be challenged to do other things. So, trying to be good parents, we’ve really tried to encourage him in this area.
Which is why, the other night, we all sat down to play the game he invented, Paper Brawl. He described it to be like Pokemon, only better. He made up his own game boards and illustrated and wrote out all of his cards. It took him a few days to get it all together, but it was fun to see his imagination working hard.
He had thought out every detail, down to the main prize and then “The Other Prize.”
Ellee and I ended up playing our own version. Because there were quite a lot of intricate parts that we didn’t quite understand. Ours was a bit like war, where the higher card won. This awesome Dad though, was dedicated. He was diligent and patient and he and Christian had a great time playing through all of the details of the game. In the end, it was a fun family night. We were proud of Christian and his creation. We love our son so much and I hope that it’s always at the front of our agenda to support and encourage him in all that he does.
The second game that we’ve been playing non-stop for the past few days, is a little game Ellee and I like to call Shopkins. Ellee went to a friend’s birthday party this past weekend, and was introduced to this fun new toy craze. I think it’s been around for awhile but this was our first encounter.
I have to admit. As a parent, I’m not always huge on toy fads. Because I’ve lived long enough to see a lot of them come and go. But I quickly realized that this was one our daughter would love and one that I could get on board with as well. So we came home, and I found a cute Shopkins pack on Amazon that shipped free with Prime. After they arrived, I watched our daughter play and play and play with them for four days straight. Which was a record as far as playing time with random toys we’ve bought our kids over the years.
I may have bought her another pack. Because apparently, there are all sorts of Shopkins out there. And Season Three featured new baskets and bags and they were just too cute to pass up on.
You may be wondering how you play Shopkins. This is how our Ellee girl rolls. She’s set up a whole store front. Complete with the Barbie cash register and scanner that she got last Christmas.
Every day, she carefully organizes her store. It was part of the reason that I bought her another set. Because there are only so many times that I could buy the same items without getting a little bored.
Ellee also dug out her play phones that really work for the most part. She stretched one over to my desk so that I can place phone orders at her store. It makes it easy for me and super fun for her.
Ellee absolutely loves playing store with her Shopkins. And we’ve even incorporated a little learning in with it too. She writes out the names of each Shopkins on every receipt and uses a little multiplication to figure out how much we owe her. Today she made an advertisement with Shopkins and adjectives and I’m thinking I’m going to play the education card as long as I can with these little things. Because learning should be fun, and this has been lots of fun for our sweet girl.
Daddy’s a huge fan of the Shopkins shop too.
All in all, I’m a fun of Summer and the fun games that our family plays. Encouraging our kids to use their imagination is a big part of what childhood is all about. I’m thankful that our kids have found fun ways to use theirs this summer.
Laura Herr Photography 